1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a dual clutch transmission for a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 8,365,623 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,393,238 disclose a dual clutch transmission with two clutches having input sides connected to a driveshaft, while the output sides of the clutches are connected, respectively, to one of two transmission input shafts which are arranged coaxial to one another. Further, two countershafts are provided which are arranged axially parallel to one another. Three idler gears engaging with fixed gears of the transmission input shafts are associated with the countershafts in each instance. Six shift elements or coupling devices are required to shift the idler gears of the countershafts. In addition, a further shift element is provided for connecting two idler gears of a countershaft to one another. In total, at least three gear planes and one output gear plane are required to realize only six powershift-capable gear ratio steps, and a multiple use of gear ratio steps is required for implementing winding gears. When shifting winding gears, the two sub-transmissions are coupled with one another so that the powershift capability of the dual clutch transmission is limited.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a dual clutch transmission of the generic type mentioned above which makes do without the use of winding gears and which is constructed so as to be fully powershift-capable and requires the smallest possible installation space.